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Commodore Perry Opens Japan

On July 8, 1853, on the orders of President Millard
Fillmore, Commodore Matthew Perry led four
American ships into the harbor at Tokyo Bay,
seeking to pierce Japan’s isolation from the
western world and establish regular trade and
discourse for the first time in over 200 years.

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I. The American Sailor

Virginia left behind, we sailed the world
Until at last we reached the vast Pacific.
When we reached Yokohama we unfurled
The stars and stripes. Our message was specific:

“Japan, you must rejoin the world of trade!
Your country cannot hide in isolation.
Observe our weapons, hear our cannonade!
You’ll share these wonders as a modern nation.”

Old Perry wouldn’t let Japan say no.
We’d stay at anchor till we had a treaty.
He told us sailors we must act just so.
No gambling, girls or grog; no getting greedy.

We saw so many things that Japan lacks!
No steam engines, pianos, trains or corn.
No welcome, either. Armor. Swords. An axe.
Well, here we plan to stay despite their scorn.

I hear their geishas dance and sing for change.
Would these grave people let us have our pick?
Not likely when their ways seem stiff and strange.
I find scant truth in Perry’s limerick:

“The Commodore took Yokohama
With nary a question or comma
Though our cannons were loud
He spoke soft as a cloud
And brought trade without warfare or drama.”

.

II. The Japanese Scribe

Their ships arrived like
Dragons from the sea. They belched
Smoke, they threatened flame.
None offered proper reverence
For Emperor or Shogun

I ponder strangers
Who ignore cherry blossoms
Who do not plant rice,
Weave silk into kimono
Or honor their ancestors.

Do samurai wait
Within the castle to strike?
Let us be prepared.
Honor binds us to this land.
We shall gather at the shrines.

Though I give my life
To guard against the profane,
I cannot protect
This land of the rising sun.
I must meditate with tea.

Ripples in the pond
Do not break the reflection
Of perfect moonlight.
They cannot change who we are.
Hear the truth in my haiku:

“Treasured porcelain
Wounded by wind may be healed
With light and gold dust.”

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Poet’s Note:

The Japanese scribe writes in an expanded Tanka poetic form, characterized by five lines of 5-7-5-7-7- syllables and written without meter or rhyme.

Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery pieces with gold dust. The philosophy behind this is that by embracing flaws and imperfections, one may create an even stronger piece of art whose repaired damage becomes part of its history and beauty.

.

.

Strolling in Shinjuku

A foreigner alone, he shyly wanders
Through Shinjuku, that shining Tokyo ward
Of clubs and glaring neon lights. He ponders
Glass skyscrapers, vast crowds. He is ignored,
Though when he bows an old tea merchant smiles.
Japan bewilders, dazzles and beguiles.

Smart women dress like France, the men wear suits;
They radiate proud values, fierce ambition.
Yet some maintain deep ties to Eastern roots
And don kimonos to respect tradition.
They grace the street like floating cherry petals.
Their dignity impresses and unsettles.

The foreigner feels awkward, cloddish, bland.
The West is all he knows. He yearns to learn
The choreography of this strange land—
Perhaps to master swordplay or discern
The universe within a cup of tea;
To learn to kneel with poised humility.

He strolls and dreams he’s garbed in ancient silk
With dragons on his sleeves. His steps are slow
Through clouds of peach-tree petals pale as milk
And pink wistaria as soft as snow.
He floats past stores perfumed with ginger root
And plums, his eyes as wide as lotus fruit.

He sees a teenage girl, her hair dyed blue—
Transgressive, though her face and eyes seem kind.
She also is Japan—the brash and new.
She scans the street for someone she can’t find.
Her phone then rings with “California Dreaming.”
The foreigner moves on, his senses teeming.

Unseen he glides like a kabuki ghost,
Into Shinjuku Park. He hears the drone
Of chanting voices; soon he is engrossed
To spy a priest in robes, his hat a cone.
A man and woman kneel. Their faces shine.
The foreigner has found a Shinto shrine.

The lovers dress and kneel the ancient way.
Their vows are spoken, sake drunk, they kiss.
The foreigner then sees them bow and pray—
Tradition proves the handmaiden of bliss!
As cherry blossoms float and glad tears gleam,
He sighs amazed that this is not a dream.

.

.

Brian Yapko is a lawyer who also writes poetry. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

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29 Responses

  1. Paddy Raghunathan

    Brian,

    Very nice poems. After the last line, I was sighing too, that this is not a dream.

    Best regards,

    Paddy

    Reply
      • Michael

        Brian: Am I exaggerating? I think not. Possibly, you are the greatest poet of the 21st century. I hope the scholars will discover you, if they haven’t already. Preserve your work. And anthologize it for future generations. Thanks for everything you do, every day.

      • Brian A. Yapko

        Michael, I fear you are indeed exaggerating but I thank you sincerely (and with a small blush) for what may be the most generous comment I’ve ever received on my poetry. Bless you for your most encouraging words!

  2. Roy Eugene Peterson

    These detailed, delicious, descriptive poems make me curious about how you acquired such considerable knowledge about Japan and the Japanese. They were fascinating for their depictions and prevailing sensitivities. Changing the points of view as to who is doing the writing, is inspired. I spent one week visiting Japan and observed some of the things you mentioned in Tokyo and Osaka, such as western music in odd places, seeing a Shinto shrine, and a confluence of the east and west in everything from restaurants to clothing. This was back in the mid-1980’s. Your story telling art certainly shines through it all.

    Reply
    • Brian A Yapko

      Thank you, Roy. I’ve always been interested in Japan since taking a course on Japanese history at U.C.L.A. Don’t underestimate the power of movies and t.v to feed such interest! I’ve seen “Tora, Tora, Tora” probably five times, not to mention enjoying “Shogun” and “Lost in Translation.” I’ve been to Japan once visiting Kagoshima, Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo and the observations of the foreigner here are an amalgam of various things that I did indeed see first-hand. I’m quite interested in making a return visit.

      Reply
  3. Mary Gardner

    Brian, thank you for these evocative poems. I spent two years in beautiful Japan as a child when my father was stationed in Yokohama. Reading your poems, I was there again.

    Reply
    • Brian A Yapko

      Thank you, Mary. It pleases me greatly that my work has sparked a fond memory!

      Reply
  4. Norma Pain

    I had a beautiful visit to Japan through your poetry. Thank you Brian.

    Reply
  5. Paul Freeman

    I particularly enjoyed ‘Commodore Perry Opens Japan’. Just the audacity of it beggars belief – ‘How dare you not trade with us?’

    This poem could be in the history books as a source.

    Thanks for the reads, Brian.

    Reply
    • Brian A Yapko

      Thank you very much, Paul! If you look up the Opening of Japan on Wikipedia you’ll see it was a more complicated situation that I’ve presented. And I believe it was instigated by the Dutch and French before the U.S. There were issues of shipwrecked Western sailors stranded in Japan and there were Japanese sailors shipwrecked in the U.S. who could not be returned to their home because of Japanese isolationism. It’s a very interesting story. And as Margaret comments below, what happens after the Opening of Japan is even more fascinating.

      Reply
  6. Yael

    Thank you for this interesting bit of history, art and cultural perspective Brian, which I find very enjoyable. The ship illustration is also highly intriguing.

    Reply
    • Brian A Yapko

      Thank you very much, Yael. And a shout-out to Evan for the selection of that ship illustration which I think is absolutely perfect.

      Reply
  7. Joshua C. Frank

    These are all great! “Commodore Perry Opens Japan” summarizes how what was presented as a great uplifting of Japan to Western ways was really imposing change by force; stanza 2 says it all. Indeed, here is the ultimate fruit of Japanese Westernization: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/20/young-people-japan-stopped-having-sex

    “The Japanese Scribe”—really ingenious, using tanka stanzas. Also good job of getting into a Japanese speaker’s mind.

    “Strolling in Shinjuku”—Norma described it perfectly: a visit to Japan through your poetry. You must have seen all those things!

    Reply
    • Brian A Yapko

      Thank you very much, Josh. Interesting information in the Guardian article that you shared. And yes, I did see most of what I described albeit with a little bit of artistic license.

      Reply
      • Joshua C. Frank

        Thanks, Brian.

        These poems led me to remember this passage:

        “To call a people ‘barbaric’ is to describe the state of the soul, condemning its mentality or philosophy as one of godlessness. … The Japanese traditionalists expressed just this when they made their anti-western slogan: sonnō jōi or ‘revere the emperor, expel the barbarians.’ By barbarians they referred to the Western powers with their extravagant wealth, their vulgar attitudes, their secular governments, and their materialistic attitudes. In this slogan they not only sought a rejection of these ‘barbarian’ ideals, but also a return to proper spiritual hierarchy, headed by a divine emperor. However, once the flood gates were rammed open by American battleships in 1853 and the forcible modernization of Japan was commenced, a new slogan was created: fukoku kyōhei or ‘enrich the country, strengthen the military.’”

        The Case Against the Modern World by Daniel Schwindt

      • Brian A Yapko

        Thank you very much for this additional information, Josh, and the reference material The Cast Against the Modern World. There is much to ponder in this quote, including the relativism inherent in the term “barbarian.” From the point of view of my scribe, the Westerners are barbarians because of their lack of aesthetics and disrespect for Japanese niceties. But the sailor has a mirror image of Japan for its lack of modern technology and strange aloofness. In the end who is right? Both? Neither? I do note that in the end Japan Westernized with a vengeance and its successful joining and then exceeding the nations of the West is one of the most astounding stories of the modern industrial era. But, of course, it was in its economic, political and military interests to do so. I will also say this: despite its Westernization, Japan has succeeded admirably in maintaining respect for its traditions, aesthetics and values of honor and dignity. Moreso than most countries of the West.

  8. Margaret Coats

    Charming pair of poems concerning an enchanting land that was NOT OPENED BY FORCE–and Brian does not make the mistake of saying so. He suggests with great sensitivity how gunboat diplomacy works without firing guns. The potential trading partner is threatened out of isolation; Perry succeeds, but Japan cleverly prepares long-term diplomatic response that is one of the most sophisticated and astounding stories in international relations. Brian doesn’t write about said story explicitly, but he covers it by imagining attitudes of a Japanese scribe at the outset, and by showing the effects as seen by a contemporary foreign tourist in Tokyo. In other words, Brian, this post is not a tour-de-force, but a subtle and and appreciative exploration of a delightful culture that, as your amazed closing words sigh, is not a dream. I say so after living there four and a half years, and not being able to leave.

    Reply
    • Brian A Yapko

      Thank you so much, Margaret! I envy you having lived in Japan for so long. It’s a country unlike any other — one in which tradition is greatly respected despite the hyper-Westernization that has taken place. I find the Japanese aesthetic to be very congenial. I agree with you regarding the astounding chapters of Japanese history which take place after the Opening. japan industrializes on a scale that is unprecedented in history. Within 50 years Japan and Russia will go to war and Japan will win. And in less than 90 years Japan will be in a position to take on both China and the United States. There is a level of focus on achievement in Japanese culture that is astounding.

      Reply
  9. Cheryl Corey

    How interesting to conclude the first poem with a limerick, and to compose the second using tanka but finishing with a haiku – very fitting for the scribe’s viewpoint.
    Are you familiar with the poet Ernest Fenollosa? If not, you might wish to read about him. He was born the year that Commodore Perry opened Japan. Following a Harvard education, his interest in art took him to Japan, where he became known as an antiquarian collector, especially of old, aristocratic art depicting court life. His dedication was such that when he died (in London), his ashes were returned to Japan and buried there, and a monument in his honor was erected at the Tokyo Art School. In many ways, he re-introduced the Japanese to their lost arts.

    Reply
  10. Brian A Yapko

    Thank you, Cheryl, for the observation regarding the limerick and the haiku. I embedded them into each respective speaker’s section of the poem so that there would be a “short poem” contrast between the two and used as something of character prop. In a sense, my Commodore Perry poem is really four separate poems yoked together.

    I don’t know Ernest Fenollosa at all. He sounds fascinating and I will look him up today. I am always intrigued by the Japanese art that comes up on the Antiques Roadshow — I find the slightly subdued Japanese aesthetic in art, architecture and, especially, Japanese gardens to be truly exquisite.

    Reply
  11. Patricia Allred

    Hello, Brian! These are all overwhelmingly done. It will take me more than one read! Glad to see you used the expanded Tanka form! Know you are busy, do not want to take up your time. Fantastic history. You are a gift to us. No need to respond!
    In appreciation!

    Reply
    • Brian A Yapko

      Thank you, Patricia! Never too busy to express appreciation for your views and your support!

      Reply
  12. Brian A Yapko

    Fellow poet Margaret Coats, who is extremely knowledgeable about all things Japanese, has privately observed to me that, technically speaking, the correct plural of kimono is, in fact, kimono. While kimonos with an “s” is accepted and acceptable, a learned speaker like the Scribe in “Commodore Perry” would invoke highly proper usage. Hence I have asked our moderator to change his “kimonos” to “kimono.”

    Note that this change occurs only in the first poem. The foreigner in “Shinjuku,” not fluent in Japanese, would use the common parlance, which would indeed be “kimonos.” That is why I have retained the “s” in the second poem. This explanation is offered to anyone who might be curious as to why the plural of kimono is different in each poem and to reassure you that the absence of an “s” in the first poem is not a typo.

    Reply
  13. Joseph S. Salemi

    Brian, your excellent poem has stirred up a childhood memory. When I was in the seventh grade we had a teacher named Miss Arevalo, who later married a Japanese man and was then called Mrs. Izuka (or Isuka, perhaps). One day she introduced us to three short poems about Japan. They may have originally been written in Japanese, but we had them in English free verse.

    The gist of the poems went like this. The first presented a blissful scene of traditional Japan, with cherry blossoms and meticulously tended gardens. The second presented the arrival of Western ships at a Japanese port in the 19th century. The third presented modern Tokyo at night, with garish lights and noise and advertising.

    Mrs. Izuka told us that the three short poems were a symbolic representation of Japan — the first being traditional Japan, second being the momentous arrival of western influence and trade, and the third being the consequent corruption of modern Japanese cities into trashy and sleazy urban honky-tonks.

    I wonder now, since this memory came back to me from reading your poem, if the three poems in question were originally Japanese, or were written by a Westerner. I do not remember what Mrs. Izuka told us. Could they have been haiku? I don’t think so, for the English poems that we were given to read seemed a bit too long to have been translations from that very concise genre.

    If they were composed by a Japanese poet, his view must have been that of a strong conservative who viewed the coming of the Western ships as a cultural and political disaster. If they were written by a Westerner, he may have been a Japanophile romanticist who also bemoaned the changes.

    I’m hoping that you or Margaret may have some knowledge of these three poems (or one poem in three short sections). If they were well known enough to have been taught in an American classroom, they must have had a wide circulation.

    Reply
    • Margaret Coats

      Joe, I myself don’t know the triptych of poems to which you refer, but I have a book and two persons to consult who might know better than I. Will let you and Brian know what I find.

      Reply
      • Brian A Yapko

        Thank you, Margaret. Please do. In the meantime, I will do some online research and see if I can come up with anything.

    • Brian A Yapko

      Thank you very much, Joe, for the appreciative words, the personal story and the mystery. I do not know about these poems off hand nor have I heard of them. But once I am presented with a mystery I cannot let it go until I try to get answers so I will do some research and get back to you! It’s fascinating to me that my own poetry followed the themes mentioned by your trio of poems. There seems to be something archetypal in the broad and sequential themes of innocence, contact/conflict/corruption, and consequence. Not that Japanese culture was innocent, but it was cloistered.

      Reply

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